SKELETAL* SUDANESE STUDENTS : MASTER GLOBAL OPINION

 

'' What a Student in Sudan can teach world leaders.'' A display of moral responsibility at a refugee camp could inspire that world at a crucial moment for her country.

Several older women rescued Safaa : They gave her an abaya shawl to cover herself and helped her lift her younger sister onto her back so it would seem as if Safa was a mother.

It worked : The gunman ignored her and instead seized a group of teenage girls and left. Now homeless and penniless, the 16-year-old Safaa -whose father was murdered by the militia and whose mother had died earlier - was in charge of the family.

She knew her only hope was to escape to Chad, but she didn't have the $25 she would need to pay for a ride. So she did the only thing she could :

She took a job in the city of Geneina, near her village, as a server in tea shop, surrounded by the men, scrimping on food for herself and saving every penny she could.

While Safaa is still a child, she does take her responsibilities very seriously. To earn money to buy food for the family, she leaves at 4:30 each morning to work in a teahouse in her Chad refugee camp, returning at about 9 each evening, seven days a week. She earns the equivalent of about 50 cents a day.

Her 11-year-old brother, Musaah, works as well, taking whatever odd jobs he can find, and her 12-year-old sister, Maqa, fetches water, washes clothes, cooks and organizes the home.

It's lonely and overwhelming : Maqa cried for a time as we spoke, and at another time in our conversation tears trickled down Safa's cheek. But the girls consoled each other and never broke down at the same time.

Safa tries to play the role of substitute mother, guiding and disciplining Maqa when she misbehaves.

'' Sometimes I beat her, and sometimes I advise her that this was wrong and you shouldn't do it, '' she explained. '' Mostly, I advise. '' She is a child raising children, struggling to do her best.

When Maqa has nightmares or cries in frustration or grief at lost parents, or friends,  Salas comforts her. '' I hug her,'' she said. '' And I explain. ' This is life. Don't cry.' ''

But this doesn't have to be her life. It's not inevitable that Sudanese endure massacres, mass rape and famine.

May this exhausted teenager, hugging her sister and telling her not to cry, remind global leaders that they too can show some responsibility.

The World Students Society values and thanks Nicholas Kristof for his opinion.